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Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Thankyou, ASSA

We are officially finished our trip to Amar Seva Sangam, and onto Families for Children. The time went by very quickly, as we were busy visiting a variety of programs. We became especially involved with the patients in the spinal cord facility, many of whom grew close to our hearts. We also frequently attended the physiotherapy sessions for the 'home children', those with disabilities who live on site and attend the integrated school. We grew to know many of them on a personal basis, even those with whom we shared little language.

When Brooke and Andrea (UBC physio students) left, we helped them put on a goodbye show by performing an updated version of our Evening In India dance, including Brooke and Andrea. We like to think we rocked the house, as we had compliments on our performance for days to come. This also gave the girls an opportunity to dress up in their new sarees, and Randy in a traditional dhoti.

We made several presentations to the staff at ASSA, covering wound care and pressure sore management, body mechanics for caregivers, emerging spinal cord research, posturing, and adaptations. On our last evening at ASSA, we presented our donation to a grateful Secretary, physio and nursing staff, and the residents of the spinal cord unit. The Secretary made a trip all the way from Tirunelvelli to receive our donation. We requested that a portion of our funds go towards a 3-day conference and jamboree event for spinal cord patients (current and former) and medical experts, which ASSA runs every summer.

We would like to thank everyone in Canada and abroad who made this possible by donating to our fundraising campaign.